(Clearwisdom.net) On July 20, 2006, dozens of Los Angeles Falun Gong practitioners rallied in front of the Chinese Consulate to condemn the 7-year brutal persecution. They displayed banners which read, "Stop the Persecution of Falun Gong" and, "Fully Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in Chinese Labor Camps and Prisons," to once again remind the public about the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) brutal persecution of Falun Gong. The practitioners also held a candlelight vigil to commemorate fellow practitioners who have been persecuted to death by the CCP.

Los Angles Falun Gong practitioners rallied in front of the Chinese Consulate to mark the 7-year brutal persecution and to commemorate fellow practitioners persecuted to death

Professor Wu Yingnian from UCLA said that the 7-year persecution has fully demonstrated the brutality of the CCP. When the CCP started to persecute Falun Gong in July 1999, it used all state-controlled media to continuously slander and demonize Falun Gong. However, it never lets the practitioners' voice be heard by the public. Many Chinese people were frightened, as the persecution reminded them of the brutality of the Cultural Revolution. Whenever practitioners try to clarify the truth in China, they are subjected to persecution. The CCP has effectively deprived people's right to know the truth and practitioners' freedom of speech, while forcefully spreading slanderous articles against the practice.

In the past 7 years, it has been confirmed that at least 3,000 practitioners have been persecuted to death. Because the regime has been trying everything to cover up the truth of the persecution, the actual death toll is in all probability much higher. Countless kindhearted citizens have been abducted and sent to labor camps, detention centers, mental hospitals, prisons and brainwashing centers, where they are subject to physical and mental torture. Many female practitioners have been sexually abused. The only cause of the persecution is that these practitioners refuse to give up their belief and refuse to denounce their belief under pressure. The persecution has destroyed many families and it is the largest human rights calamity currently.

The persecution is still ongoing and its atrocities have been extended to many other innocent citizens from all social strata, including peasants and religious groups. Therefore, practitioners hope that all Chinese people will stand with Falun Gong to resist the persecution, as safeguarding the rights of Falun Gong is to safeguard one's own rights. Meanwhile, practitioners' peaceful resistance to the brutal persecution and struggle to safeguard their rights of belief and of free speech and assembly, is in fact safeguarding and campaigning for such rights on behalf of all Chinese citizens.

The persecution has also been extended overseas. Most recently, to please the CCP, the Singapore government interfered with and constrained practitioners' activities and spread the CCP's anti-Falun Gong lies in newspapers. On several occasions, the Singapore police have attempted to charge practitioners with so-called "illegal assembly." During the rally, Los Angeles Falun Gong practitioners strongly protested the Chinese Communist regime's pressure on other countries in its attempt to export the persecution overseas. They sincerely called on the public to condemn the CCP's atrocities and take action to end the persecution.